Multimedia students kickoff card game

Lane Multimedia students Brian Ross and Derek Watson have been hard at work creating “Forever Football” — a football themed card game designed to be enjoyable for everyone from tabletop gamers to sports fans.

Both Ross and Watson, who met in a class at Lane, agree that skills and multimedia industry connections gained through the Multimedia program have helped them greatly. Without support from Lane’s faculty and students, Watson doesn’t know if “Forever Football” would have come to fruition.

“Every single class I have taken at Lane has been a part of the construction of the game,” Ross said, “even down to the marketing.”

Using dice and player cards with special abilities, the goal is to move your team down the field and score the most points. Players buy and trade cards to draft and form their teams, with which they play against each other in one of two game variants, a quicker arcade mode or a longer season mode.

Just like real estate knowledge is not needed to play Monopoly, sports knowledge is not needed for Forever Football, Ross said.

“I actually have no interest in football whatsoever,” Watson said. “At first I was a little bit skeptical, but when I started in on [Forever Football], I was immediately drawn in.”

Watson expanded that even though he doesn’t like football, he still wants to help make a good game for football fans and novices alike. Ross thinks that this game bridges the gap between the two.

“I am a huge sports fan, not the biggest card or board game player,” Forever Football player Jake Engelhardt said, “… but, after playing it, I am sold.”

Forever Football’s ongoing Kickstarter campaign has gained considerate support, and will be ongoing until Nov. 27. Ross and Watson were very excited to report they reached 25 percent of their 5,000 dollar goal within the first two days of launching the campaign. Rewards for backing the campaign include having a card made in one’s likeness and getting to design an entire team of your own, both to be included in the official retail version of the game.